1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inked ribbon advance and reverse mechanism for multiple print station printing apparatus having a movable carrier with a rotatable print head and more particularly to such a mechanism for advancing an inked ribbon in two planes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,035, entitled High Speed Printer Having Segmented Drum, issued to Gosta Roland Englund on Apr. 4, 1978, teaches a printing apparatus for printing characters onto a print medium which includes at least one printing station, a carrier which supports a plurality of segments that are included in the characters and a device for feeding the print medium through the printing station. The carrier is arranged to move the segments in sequence through the printing station. The printing apparatus also includes an actuator for actuating the print medium when a selected one of the segments on the carrier is located in the printing station. The device for feeding is arranged to feed the print medium intermittently through the printing station and the actuator is arranged to be activated when the print medium takes its rest position. The printing apparatus is housed in a casing and has a slot, from which a printed receipt may be obtained, and a window, through which a check ribbon or a journal print medium for audit purposes can be seen. The printing apparatus has three spaced apart printing stations, one of which prints on a print medium which is orthogonally disposed to the other print media.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,765, entitled Record Media Drive Mechanism, issued to Leslie L. Crump and Victor J. Italiano on June 7, 1977, teaches a plurality of printing stations which are spaced across a printing apparatus wherein a feed or drive assembly for a print medium is associated with each printing station. Each of the feed or drive assemblies is self-contained and of modular construction in order to enable positioning of a particular feed or drive assembly in any desired location along a drive shaft. One feed or drive mechanism includes a clutch member and associated drive gears and rollers to incrementally advance a print medium, such as receipt paper, in one direction. A second feed or drive mechanism includes the clutch member and additional drive gears and rollers to incrementally advance a second print medium, such as journal paper in the same direction for rewinding and storage thereof in the printing apparatus. A third feed or drive mechanism includes the clutch member and further drive gears and rollers to incrementally advance a third print medium, such as slip or form paper in the opposite direction. In the modern business machine, a normal or common type of construction may include a receipt station, a journal or audit station and a slip or form station, wherein, respectively, a receipt is printed and provided to the customer, a journal or an audit is printed and retained or stored in the business machine, and a slip or form, which may be in the manner of a pass book or a document, is inserted and certain information is printed thereon and then returned to the customer, if it is a pass book, or disposited in a receptacle for further processing, if it is a check or similar document. U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,681 also discloses several printing stations which are adjacent to one another for performing these several functions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,765 teaches a single print head which operates across each printing station. The print medium at each of the printing stations is disposed in the same plane as the other print media.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,396, entitled Business Machine Printer Having Plural Print Heads, issued to Albert L. Eischen and George Kolomayeta on Oct. 7, 1975, teaches a high speed serial printing apparatus for business machines which includes a plurality of platens each of which backs an associated print medium, a continuous Mobius inked ribbon, a carriage which is movable relative to the platens and a plurality of print heads which are mounted on the carriage. Each print head has a set of selectively movable printing elements which are cooperable with the inked ribbon to impactingly print on the print medium associated with one of the platens. The print heads are mounted back to back on the carriage in opposing spatial relationship and are offset with respect to each other and the carriage so that each print head impactingly engages the Mobius loop inked ribbon along each of two parallel printing paths thereon, in order to effect substantially even ribbon wear and best inking characteristics, regardless of the relative usage of the print heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,345, entitled Printing Apparatus with Selectively Movable Printing Heads, issued to Gosta R. Englund and Karl T. Wincent on Sept. 11, 1979, teaches a printing apparatus for printing characters on at least one data carrier or print medium which includes a print head which is movable along the data carrier or print medium, a line advance device for feeding the data carrier or print medium substantially perpendicular to the moving direction of the print head, an inked ribbon feed mechanism for feeding an inked ribbon in relation to the data carrier or print medium, a cut-off mechanism for cutting off the data carrier or print medium, and a shaft which is rotatable less than 360.degree. in one direction by a reversible motor from a home position to an end position which is determined by the selected operation cycle and thereafter back to the home position by reversing the direction of rotation of the shaft. The reversal of the shaft is performed at different times during subsequent operation cycles in order to permit gears and cams on the shaft to move the print head to positions which are determined by the number of characters to be printed on the data carrier or print medium, actuation of the line advance device and actuation of the inked ribbon feed mechanism or cut-off mechanism. A unit for printing normally unchanging information is activated in response to the motor providing a short backing movement before operation of the cut-off mechanism and before the print head is moved from the neutral position.
All of the above patents teach a plurality of print stations in most of which the print media are generally in the same plane. U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,396 teaches two printing stations in which the print media are parallelly disposed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,035 teaches three printing stations each of which has its own printing device and in which one of the three print media is disposed orthogonally to the other two print media. It is often more convenient to have the slip printing station disposed perpendicular to the receipt printing station, but in view of the trend toward a more compact printing apparatus and less mechanical complexity thereof the required addition of a second orthogonally disposed printing device increases both the volume and the complexity of the printing apparatus.
Whenever a multiple print station printing apparatus is used wherein at one of the print station is disposed in a different plane it often becomes necessary to have at least two inked ribbon advance and reverse mechanisms in order to advance a length of inked ribbon for each print station if the inked ribbon advance and reverse mechanism of the prior art are used. If one inked ribbon advance and reverse mechanism is used, then it will be very complicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,594, entitled Serial Impact Calculator Printer, issued to Nicholas Kondur, Jr. on Oct. 19, 1976, teaches a ribbon spool drive member which coordinates the advancement of an inked ribbon with the print head travel. U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,103, entitled High-Speed Printer Having Improved Ribbon Driving, Reversing and Tensioning Mechanism, issued to Arthur F. Riley on July 23, 1974, also teaches an inked ribbon advancement mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,880,271, entitled Ribbon Feed, issued to Terrance J. Hebron on Apr. 29, 1975, also teaches a ribbon feed for a printing apparatus.